Dozens of people were wounded in fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy today, local officials said.
The local city council said that 74 people, including 13 children, were among those wounded after Russian forces launched a missile attack against residential areas and infrastructure facilities, including a ‘children’s hospital’.
Rescue teams were still trying to establish the full extent of the damage as they sifted through rubble and put out fires today.
The strikes shattered windows and damaged the roofs and walls of homes and the school, Ukrainian Pravda reports.
It was Russia’s turn to meet with U.S. representatives in Saudi Arabia today as missiles continued to pound northeastern Ukraine.
The White House stressed the primary importance of first reaching a ceasefire in the Black Sea, to the south, to allow unhindered shipping, before moving towards a more comprehensive deal.
All eyes were on Riyadh amid talks aimed at rejoining some of the key differences of expectation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has insisted it is committed to a U.S.-mediated 30-day halt on attacks on loosely-defined ‘energy facilities’. But civilians in Ukraine still awoke on Monday to a massive drone assault, causing damage and injuries, according to the air force.
The limited progress towards a partial ceasefire looked fragile last week when Zelensky accused Putin of breaching the terms the Russian leader had agreed to just hours prior.
Russia then accused Ukraine of derailing the deal with an attack on a gas metering station in Kursk. Zelensky cast doubt over Russia’s reporting of events.
